Preference heterogeneity in trip makers’ perception and policy Issues: A study with reference to bus services in Kolkata

Abstract

The bus services in most of the cities in emerging countries are facing challenges in terms of financial viability and ridership. On the other hand, the increasing usage of private vehicle is aggravating the congestion and pollution in the urban areas. Therefore, there is a need for improving the bus service in accordance to the requirement of commuters in order to make it an attractive mode of transport. The paper presents an investigation on trip makers’ preference heterogeneity towards various attributes of bus service using stated preference choices, identify the differences in trip makers’ requirements based on trip, socioeconomic, and demographic characteristics, and accordingly suggest suitable policy measures for improving bus service. The stated preference data were analyzed by developing random parameter logit (RPL) models accounting for heterogeneity, and trip makers’ Willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improving bus service attributes were calculated. The study reveals existence of significant heterogeneity in commuters’ perceptions towards improving different attributes of bus service with respect to trip purpose, age, gender, and frequency of using bus. Trip makers’ WTP for time savings was found higher for work trips indicating the need for adopting efficient traffic management measures during peak hours. Female commuters were found to value comfort during travel much higher as compared to male commuters which justifies the existing ‘female only’ seat reservation policy in Kolkata and emphasizes the need for further initiatives such as women special services, especially during peak hours.